Subject: Re: [boost] Need to use SHA1 implementation in boost
From: Vinnie Falco (vinnie.falco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2016-04-18 07:03:03


On Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 6:55 AM, Thijs van den Berg <thijs_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Maybe it's a good idea to release you version using the std::hash (or
> boost:hash) interface, although a separte library of common predefined hash
> function would be a more natural place for it?

We've got a proposal winding its way through the C++ standard process
which provides a new interface to computing hashes on objects suitable
for use with unordered containers:
http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2014/n3980.html

The problem is that while these interfaces are great for the purposes
of generating 32-bit or 64-bit digests for hash tables, they are
deficient for cryptographic purposes (i.e. producing a message
authentication code). For example, regular std::hash doesn't deal with
endiannes. But computing a cryptographic digest must yield the same
results on all platforms, and therefore cares about endianness.